Forgive me for returning to a subject which I’ve previously written about, but I do not apologise for updating this important topic. Diversity has been the subject of many recent online dramas, but my approach, as always, comes from tempered reason and real facts.
Diversity is a very large umbrella covering such things as sexuality, gender, colour, disability, culture, religion and ethnicity. As writers we’re all too often told that to have any of our main characters be a person of colour is to limit our book sales. Even worse is the crime of portraying a non-white person on the book’s cover thus condemning it to a life on the shelf.
I have many friends who are either black, south asian or east asian (Oriental) and I’m constantly angered by the insidious, everyday racism that they have to live with. For gay men and women the treatment is worse. In a survey for FS magazine, Two thirds of gay, BAME (Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic) men in the UK believed that racism was a bigger problem for them than homophobia.
What really winds me up is the all pervasive racism, coming from within the gay community itself. Here, 80% of black gay men say that they’ve experienced racism within the community. If you don’t believe me, watch a black guy go up to the bar in a gay pub or club and see how long it takes for him to get served compared to the white guys around him. These very same men and women who’ve grown up with bigotry, misunderstanding and marginalisation all their lives seem happy to inflict it on others every day.
There is a wide diversity of people living in the UK so why is diversity lacking in the community who write books and why is it not reflected in the characters and books that we write.
Following this year’s wonderful EPC in Amsterdam, I was shocked to hear that at least one piece of feedback suggested that gay men should be banned from M/M book conventions. Apparently this was because men had been seen kissing each other in public.
I will leave that little nugget there, but if I was upset by ignorance and bigotry before, I was now encouraged to never again ignore racism, or homophobia on my watch. Readers and writers all claim to be allies, to be inclusive and open to diversity. But everyday racism is rampant in our community and should you have any doubts please understand that unless your alliance includes those of other skin tones, beliefs or abilities then you are no ally of mine.
Some time ago I published a seasonal short story called Diary Dates. In the story young Andrew Chin arrives from Singapore to further his studies in London. Andrew comes to care for an older English businessman and they fall in love. Central to my story was a core principle of Confucian philosophy, the idea of filial duty, or Xiáo. Many young Chinese still adhere to this respect for their elders. Imagine my shock when the first editor to read the manuscript suggested that it would make no difference to the story if I replaced young Andrew with a “well mannered white boy”! I’m sure that this editor meant no offence, but I was offended and stood my ground. We who are such advocates of the bright rainbow flag, are subscribing to a very limited color pallet if we don’t include every shade of human skin around us.
Whilst I may fight for equality and diversity within our M/M romance community, I also believe that this approach must start right at the beginning with children’s books.
Figures from a new study by the Centre for Literacy in Primary Education highlight a very clear need for better ethnic representation in children’s books. Only 4% of all the childrens books published in 2017 featured a BAME character and just 1% of the books had a BAME main character. By comparison the UK department of education reported that 32.1% of all school aged children in England were of minority ethnic origins. When the same report analysed the quality of representation it found that those few BAME books all tended to fall into a narrow ‘issues’ category. Over half of the books were seen as ‘contemporary realism’ and 10% were about ‘social justice’. Only one book was defined as a ‘comedy’.
Racism is not an easy subject to talk about because as soon as the word itself is mentioned, people become defensive or even aggressive about it. We have many causes to fight but to me everyone of them is the same battle. It is the fight against ignorance. Racism is ignorance. Homophobia is ignorance. Even body shaming is ignorance.
There can be no defence against these types of ignorance and the only excuse for it is arrogant laziness. BAME people in this country make up a vast and diverse group, but BAME and LGBT+ together form a much maligned community. More than one third of LGBTQ+ youth who identify as BAME have experienced physical abuse because of their sexuality. It is also worth noting that 65% of homeless people in the UK come from ethnic minorities.
If we wish what we read to represent the life experiences of a wide range of different people, then it is essential that we accept those experiences just as they are presented, even if they don’t always fit into our preconceived notions. Wealthy folk face different challenges to poor folk. Immigrants face an entirely different set of challenges than their children. No two BAME homes are the same, because no two families could ever be just the same. How can our m/m romantic fiction readers ever embrace the variety in the BAME experience of life if the publishing industry and even authors themselves ignore it’s very existence?
Diversity in fiction isn’t about how we show BAME characters doing things in an BAME way, LGBTQ+ characters doing things in a queer way or even disabled characters doing things in a disability adapted way. That would be just pandering to the hackneyed stereotypes. Real diversity will only be achieved by showing characters of different backgrounds doing things in their own personal way and telling their own unique stories. If that makes minority characters look less different than we expect them to be, is that such a bad thing?
My version of diversity includes the choices made by readers and writers too. I am not saying that we must all read or write ethnically diverse books. That would be as spurious as the arguments about women writing or reading about gay men. Acceptance however, means being as open to other people’s choices as they should be to yours. Cherish your own preferences but do not impose them on others. Be very careful about defending your preferences with very weak arguments. The most common one I hear is how “I can’t relate to non-white characters.” and yet those same people can relate to a whole range of shifters, vampires, gay cowboys, secret clubs of BDSM leathermen, pregnant men or entire gay-for-you football teams! One of the crazier excuses I’ve heard was “I can’t read a book with foreign names in it.” I’m sure you were ok with Cersei Lannister, Daenerys Targaryan and Brienne of Tarth. Surely we can give Zhang, Ruairí or Ishtar a chance?
There is another side to the ignorance around gay BAME characters both real and fictional. Gay men of colour often find that others, especially other gay men make stereotypical assumptions about their masculinity based on their ethnicity. We all know that black men are all big and strong with huge penises aren’t they? Of course we also know that all ‘Gaysian’ men are all hairless, effeminate twinks with small penises who only ‘bottom’ in bed! Aaaaargh!
Surely the most ignorant of people might begin to see why everyday racism, homophobia and attacks on perceived masculinity all add up to a toxic mix. Too many of my friends have to live with this constant stress when they shouldn’t have to. For many, the cross is carried with admirable stoicism, Some have the confidence to defend themselves and their various minorities, but for others it leads to depression, unhappiness and even suicide.
Wake up world. We’re all in this together people. All colours, genders faiths and abilities. How can we have racism when there is only one race? One human race.
As for the literary aspect of BAME, we need so many more writers, story characters and readers to showcase diversity not shun it. There have been some wonderful gay black writers of which my personal favourite is the awesome James Baldwin. There are some wonderful literary Asian writers but sadly there are very few gay Asian authors. One exception who I do urge you to read the Vietnamese poet Ocean Vuong.
So…….
Live and let live.
Write and let write.
Read and let read.
Learn and let learn.
Love and let Love.
T.J. Masters is the pen name of author Tim O’Rahilly
Diary Dates is available to download from DreamspinnerPress
FS magazine is the gay and bisexual men’s health magazine, published by GMFA – the gay mens health charity.
The Centre for Literacy in Primary Education (CLPE) report: Reflecting realities survey.